You wrote, If I did business with a company some years ago that had one of my CC numbers, is it really my responsibility to update them with a current CC number? I can't remember all the places I've shopped at on-line that now have expired CCs on record. If they charge to those CCs by mistake, I would at the very least expect them to contact me.

Thanks for supporting my position; but I think your example is also poorly chosen. In your example, the merchant would have every right to chase you for the charge assuming the charge was valid. That's because you had apparently established a contractual agreement in which they agreed to provide some merchandise or service and you agreed to pay for it. Just because the payment information was incorrect doesn't necessarily relieve your obligation to pay. (There are one or two possible exceptions to this; but they're pretty esoteric.)